Mebyon Kernow has made 30 pledges as the party campaigns to get more councillors in place at County Hall.

The party – the only one entirely based in Cornwall – will have 19 candidates standing for election to Cornwall Council on May 6.

These include the party’s four current councillors who are seeking re-election – Dick Cole, Loveday Jenkin, Andrew Long and Matt Luke.

The party also has a number of candidates standing for election to town and parish councils across Cornwall.

Mebyon Kernow (MK) leader Dick Cole said they were “a political party with a difference” adding: “MK has no political masters in Westminster to please and our councillors always fight for what we think is right for Cornwall.

“I am very proud of the calibre and attitude of our candidates who are all 100% committed to Cornwall and winning a better deal for Cornish communities. These pledges set out exactly what MK councillors will do for the people of Cornwall.”

The pledges include campaigning to replace council tax with a form of local taxation that has less impact on the less well-off and continuing to campaign for a National Assembly or parliament.

MK has put the 30 pledges into different categories which are as follows:

Provide a strong voice for one and all

The party says it “believes that councillors should serve the best interests of their communities, but local government is increasingly becoming little more than an agency of central government, imposing London-centric decrees onto the people of Cornwall”. MK says it will:

Fight for the best interests of Cornish communities as we have no political masters in Westminster to please

Strive to be passionate and hard-working champions for our local areas and for Cornwall as a whole

Listen to the ordinary people of Cornwall, speak up for you and give you a voice.

Fight for fair funding for Cornwall

MK says that Cornwall’s public services have received less funding than other parts of the UK. The party pledges:

Campaign for an appropriate level of funding for local government, hospitals and social care, schools and our vital public services

Push for increase investment to build a more decentralised National Health Service for Cornwall, with enhance health provision spread across the whole of Cornwall

Promote the setting up of a commission to investigate the full extent of the Government underfunding of Cornwall and its communities

Boost the Cornish economy

Mebyon Kernow says that it is committed to measures to boost the economy, create new jobs and help people build a better future. MK pledges: 

Challenge Cornwall Council to develop a long-term strategy for a sustainable and equitable economy to deliver prosperity for Cornwall and its people

Lobby central government to ensure significant investment to combat Cornwall’s low economic performance

Campaign for greater support for Cornwall’s traditional industries including farming, fishing and mining

Demand control over planning

MK says that the planning system is “broken” and has made Cornwall “a developers’ paradise”. It wants full control of planning and planning policy devolved to Cornwall. It says it will:

Promote well-balanced planning policies which protect the Cornish countryside, whole allowing appropriate developments that meet the needs of local communities

Press for a lower and more sustainable housing target with development geared to principally meet local needs

Push for planning restrictions to stop and then reverse the spread of second homes

Fight for proper local-needs housing

Mebyon Kernow wants to ensure local families can access good quality housing, to buy or rent, in their own communities which is “truly affordable”. The party pledges to:

Campaign for a local-needs housing policy that will provide genuinely affordable homes rather than schemes that just make large profits for developers

Priorities the delivery of proper council houses through the local authority and genuinely affordable homes through registered providers and community land trusts

Continue to challenge central government to prioritise social rent properties rather than more expensive “affordable rent” homes

Protect and improve public services

The party says that austerity cuts have had a “devastating impact” on public services in Cornwall and that the coronavirus pandemic could further impact government funding for local services. MK pledges to:

Work to end damaging central government cuts and to demand appropriate financial support to invest in Cornish society after the pandemic

Oppose the privatisation of the NHS and other public services

Oppose the centralisation of services out of Cornwall into bodies stretching across the Government’s south west region or its “Great SW” area

Safeguard and invest in local facilities

Mebyon Kernow wants to protect local services which are under pressure. The party has pledged to:

Act to safeguard council and community assets and services such as public buildings, playing fields, open spaces and libraries, which are vital to local towns and villages

Pressure central government to invest in the local Post Office network and reverse the closure and/or downgrading of local branches

Push for greater parity in how the unitary authority spends its money across the various parts of Cornwall

Protect the less well-off and the vulnerable

MK says it is committed to a fair and just society “in which we combat poverty and social deprivation and tackle ills such as in-work poverty, low wages and poor housing”. They pledge to:

Champion efforts to provide decent public services to support one and all – including the young, the elderly, the sick, those suffering mental health issues, the less well-off and those in need of work

Prioritise programmes and initiatives which seek to protect and enhances the living standards for those in need

Seek an end to the inequitable council tax and its replacement with a fairer form of local taxation which impacts less on the less well-off

Protect and enhance the environment

Mebyon Kernow says that Cornwall and the wider world face serious environmental threats and understands that these need to be tackled locally as well as internationally. MK has pledged to:

Promote initiatives to reduce greenhouse emissions and develop a truly sustainable and decentralised net zero carbon economy with greater resilience in terms of food production, energy, supply networks and an integrated public transport system

Push for a zero waste strategy which invests in the radical reduction of waste and increased reuse and recycling

Campaign to defend Cornwall’s green fields and historic landscapes from inappropriate and unsustainable development

Win greater recognition for Cornwall

The party wants greater recognition for the historic nation of Cornwall and the rights of all its people. To do this it pledges to:

Campaign to ensure that the safeguards guaranteed through the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities are properly enacted in Cornwall and by central government

Work hard to protect Cornwall’s unique identity, its language, traditions and its distinct constitutional position

Continue to lead the campaign for greater self-government for Cornwall through the creation of a National Assembly or Parliament.